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  <section id="interface-include-directories">
<span id="prop_tgt:INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES"></span><h1>INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES<a class="headerlink" href="#interface-include-directories" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>List of public include directories requirements for a library.</p>
<p>Targets may populate this property to publish the include directories
required to compile against the headers for the target.  The <span class="target" id="index-1-command:target_include_directories"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../command/target_include_directories.html#command:target_include_directories" title="target_include_directories"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_include_directories()</span></code></a>
command populates this property with values given to the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PUBLIC</span></code> and
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE</span></code> keywords.  Projects may also get and set the property directly.</p>
<p>When target dependencies are specified using <span class="target" id="index-0-command:target_link_libraries"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../command/target_link_libraries.html#command:target_link_libraries" title="target_link_libraries"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">target_link_libraries()</span></code></a>,
CMake will read this property from all target dependencies to determine the
build properties of the consumer.</p>
<p>Contents of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES</span></code> may use &quot;generator expressions&quot;
with the syntax <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">$&lt;...&gt;</span></code>.  See the <span class="target" id="index-0-manual:cmake-generator-expressions(7)"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-generator-expressions.7.html#manual:cmake-generator-expressions(7)" title="cmake-generator-expressions(7)"><code class="xref cmake cmake-manual docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmake-generator-expressions(7)</span></code></a>
manual for available expressions.  See the <span class="target" id="index-0-manual:cmake-buildsystem(7)"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-buildsystem.7.html#manual:cmake-buildsystem(7)" title="cmake-buildsystem(7)"><code class="xref cmake cmake-manual docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmake-buildsystem(7)</span></code></a>
-manual for more on defining buildsystem properties.</p>
<p>Include directories usage requirements commonly differ between the build-tree
and the install-tree.  The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">BUILD_INTERFACE</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INSTALL_INTERFACE</span></code>
generator expressions can be used to describe separate usage requirements
based on the usage location.  Relative paths are allowed within the
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INSTALL_INTERFACE</span></code> expression and are interpreted relative to the
installation prefix.  For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">target_include_directories(</span><span class="nb">mylib</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">INTERFACE</span>
<span class="w">  </span><span class="o">$&lt;</span><span class="no">BUILD_INTERFACE</span><span class="o">:${</span><span class="nt">CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR</span><span class="o">}</span><span class="na">/include/mylib</span><span class="o">&gt;</span>
<span class="w">  </span><span class="o">$&lt;</span><span class="no">INSTALL_INTERFACE</span><span class="o">:</span><span class="na">include/mylib</span><span class="o">&gt;</span><span class="w">  </span><span class="c"># &lt;prefix&gt;/include/mylib</span>
<span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<section id="creating-relocatable-packages">
<h2>Creating Relocatable Packages<a class="headerlink" href="#creating-relocatable-packages" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>Note that it is not advisable to populate the <span class="target" id="index-0-genex:INSTALL_INTERFACE"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-generator-expressions.7.html#genex:INSTALL_INTERFACE" title="INSTALL_INTERFACE"><code class="xref cmake cmake-genex docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INSTALL_INTERFACE</span></code></a> of
the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES</span></code> of a target with absolute paths to the include
directories of dependencies.  That would hard-code into installed packages
the include directory paths for dependencies
<strong>as found on the machine the package was made on</strong>.</p>
<p>The <span class="target" id="index-1-genex:INSTALL_INTERFACE"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-generator-expressions.7.html#genex:INSTALL_INTERFACE" title="INSTALL_INTERFACE"><code class="xref cmake cmake-genex docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INSTALL_INTERFACE</span></code></a> of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES</span></code> is only
suitable for specifying the required include directories for headers
provided with the target itself, not those provided by the transitive
dependencies listed in its <span class="target" id="index-0-prop_tgt:INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES"></span><a class="reference internal" href="INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES.html#prop_tgt:INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES" title="INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES"><code class="xref cmake cmake-prop_tgt docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES</span></code></a> target
property.  Those dependencies should themselves be targets that specify
their own header locations in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES</span></code>.</p>
<p>See the <a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-packages.7.html#creating-relocatable-packages"><span class="std std-ref">Creating Relocatable Packages</span></a> section of the
<span class="target" id="index-0-manual:cmake-packages(7)"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-packages.7.html#manual:cmake-packages(7)" title="cmake-packages(7)"><code class="xref cmake cmake-manual docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmake-packages(7)</span></code></a> manual for discussion of additional care
that must be taken when specifying usage requirements while creating
packages for redistribution.</p>
</section>
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